12:39 AM

11 Jan 4pm

I went to US court with dh. The church elder gave us a ride there.

It was a new experience. There were many people there when we arrived so I got to see and hear about 20 cases before us.

Some people were dressed really gangster or secret society-like and didn't even stand properly when they took the stand to face the judge. Their sentencing didn't usually go very well. :-)

Most were minor offences though, cos this wasn't the Supreme court. Some others had similar traffic offences like driving without licence, expired licence or cannot pay summons. They asked for extensions and were given them. Some couldn't even pay US$25. One particular case stood out.

He was oldish and limped to the front. He had a lot of outstanding fines and was hauled up for not turning up for court case earlier on and for not settling fines. So now judge told him he faced jail if he still didn't pay. Judge asked him about his offence and it was something like drink driving or intoxication causing hurt to others. Judge asked him if he can stop drinking and he said he's done it for years, cannot stop. Judge asked how much he drinks and when he found out, said he had a real problem, asked him to get help. Then asked him how does he live, and he said he stays with his mom. Judge was surprised.

Judge: What do you work as?

Man: I have no job.

Judge: How old are you?

Man: 57 years old.

Judge: Huh? ANd how old is your mom?

Man: 83.

Judge: And how do you support her?

Man: She supports me.

I think it is quite sad. At 83 his mom should be enjoying life. And the man's drinking and fines will all have to be borne by his mom... So sad.

Most cases had the person pleading guilty to the traffic offence and it went through quite fast, but one person pleaded not guilty and it took a long time for the Judge to explain to him what he had to do to prove his innocence. But he still continued to explain... took up a lot of time. Some of those waiting were showing obvious signs of impatience and a girl in front of me took off her jacket and lay splayed out on 2 seats to sleep.

Then it was dh's turn. His offence was read out: driving without valid insurance. His two other offences recorded initially: driving without valid licence and driving a car with plates belonging to another owner were waived because he had Singapore licence and his application for local driver's privilege card was pending. And the church elder had sold him the car already but had to wait for the Tax ID no before they can officially change names. Tax ID no application was also still pending (4 months after application and many calls later...).

DH pleaded for leniency. Apparently he was caught when he was parked at the grocery store. The police checked the car plates no and realised it belonged to an "ang moh" name, not this Chinese-looking alien. So he got booked then. The Judge was sympathetic and said he understood the circumstances but had no idea or jurusdiction over the Tax ID/ Driving Dept, so he can only mete out the minimum fine for driving without insurance, and that was US$400.

I think we were prepared for that... So although yes, it was a whole lot of money that could probably let our family of four live for a month, but I was relieved the whole case is over. It was a fact he drove the car without insurance so no choice, the Judge was being fair too. We'll just have to save a bit more here and there...

The church elder told me later that it was public and common knowledge that summons earn a lot of revenue for cash-strapped counties so they go all out to catch offenders and they do thorough checks. Esp the insurance cases cost these are min US$400 fine. He then joked and asked us to start collecting aluminium cans, cos we can sell them for money and earn back the $400. haha. dh said one year of personal consumption of soda drinks will yield about US$30 only... so aiyoh... the elder can really joke.

and this photo was taken by a church deacon who will place it in the church directory. just to share, cos we have very few family photos, mainly just kids, me and kids or dh n kids. how to get others to take for us usually? difficult...

rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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